A STUDY ON VISITORS EFFECT ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF PRIMATES AT CHITTAGONG ZOO

Abstract

It is important for us to be able to understand the behaviour of primates in zoos for at least three reasons: firstly as a means of ensuring their welfare, secondly to ensure a positive zoo experience for zoo visitors, and thirdly for basic research. The study was conducted on 4 species of monkey of Chittagong zoo. The animals were observed early in the morning on visitor’s ‘presence’ and on visitor’s ‘absence’. The behaviour of monkey was recorded independently ‘on-exhibit’ and ‘off-exhibit’ in enclosures. . The behaviour of the visitors was studied and found that they use to tease the monkey during their visit. The percentage of teasing by the visitors on Rhesus monkey, Capped langure, Pigtailed macaque and Olive baboon were 40%,30%,20% and 10% respectively. All these effects were consistent with an interpretation that visitors were a source of stressful excitement rather than of enrichment. In the short term effects, visitors influenced 20% more abnormal behaviour and 13% more social, mating and aggressive behaviours. ‘Visitor presence’ was thus found to influence the behaviour of captive monkies in a negative way suggesting that ‘visitor presence’ might adversely affect their welfare. Limitations of this work include independence between research areas, lack of international studies, limited generalizability of results, and the minority status of the field.